The current Lord Speaker, Labour peer Baroness Hayman, is stepping down from the role next month and an election is about to be held to elect her successor.

All members of the House of Lords are entitled to vote in the ballot for the Lord Speaker, who oversees proceedings in the Upper House, but with far fewer powers than their counterpart in the Commons.

Voting will take place on July 13th, the result will be announced on July 18th and the new Lord Speaker will take office at the beginning of September.

There are six candidates in the running:

Lord Colwyn (Con)

Lord Desai (Lab)

Baroness D’Souza (Cross Bench)

Lord Goodlad (Con)

Baroness Harris of Richmond (Lib Dem)

Lord Redesdale (Lib Dem)

Of the two Conservatives standing, Lord Colwyn has sat in the Lords since 1967 and has already served as a Deputy Chairman of Committees and Deputy Speaker there; Lord Goodlad, meanwhile, was Chief Whip for the final two years of John Major's Government before serving as High Commissioner in Australia and then taking his seat in the Lords in 2005.